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I can’t believe I’m actually able to write this, but the series finale of Merlin was amazing! I enjoyed it immensely and I’m glad the series ended on such a high note.

The episode kicked off with more battle scenes and Merlin riding towards Camlann. Once he got there, Merlin sent a few lighting bolts, which pretty much ended the battle. Mordred fatally injured Arthur. Arthur killed Mordred. Merlin took Arthur in the woods and revealed he’s a sorcerer. At this point, we’re only ten minutes into the episode and I’m like ‘what’s going on?’ I had honestly thought it will take most of the episode to get to this point, but I was glad for the quick succession of events – especially considering how well they’ve used the rest of the time.

So, let’s talk about Merlin and Arthur. What a wonderful thing their friendship has turned into! More has been achieved in this episode than in these last two seasons combined; Arthur has grown a whole lot and Merlin finally displayed his wisdom in an innocent, pleasing way. The scene in which Merlin revealed he has magic, although a bit out of the blue, was awesome and Arthur’s reaction excellent. Uncertainty, fear, rejection and betrayal were all emotions that took over him upon hearing the news and I felt Bradley James did a great job of portraying them.

Most of the episode focused on Merlin and Arthur’s journey to Lake Avalon, where Merlin hoped to heal Arthur’s wound, and Arthur realizing the implications of Merlin being a sorcerer. It truly was wonderful to watch them interact. Merlin and Arthur’s chemistry has always been one of the best things about this show and it really shined in this last episode. There were a lot of great moments between those two: Merlin lighting a fire using magic in front of Arthur, Merlin feeding and taking care of Arthur like he’d been doing since the beginning, and of course, Arthur and Merlin’s final moments together. While the death of Arthur was to be expected, I still had a glimmer of hope the writers would keep him alive. They didn’t, and it was still one of the saddest moments in the entire series. Merlin called for the dragon one last time (and for once, it made sense that he screamed his lungs out), the dragon took them to the lake, where a tearful Merlin sent Arthur off in a boat. Like I said, it was an incredibly sad and well-done moment.

Meanwhile, Gaius traveled back to Camelot and informed Guinevere and Gwaine that the hot blonde (Eira) was a traitor. They gave her false information about Arthur’s destination to throw Morgana off-course before executing her in public. Gwaine and Percival rode out to meet Morgana and I was legitimately scared that she will die at the hands of two of the most boring and useless characters in the series. I would have been so mad if Percival had been the one to kill her that it would have ruined the entire episode, so I’m glad that wasn’t the case. Morgana knocked them both unconscious, tied Percival to a tree, tortured Gwaine into revealing Arthur’s destination and then left him to die. Sweet. I only wish her death scene had been a little less rushed.

There were a lot of other great moments in the episode: Gaius saying goodbye to Merlin, Morgana killing that man in a fit of anger and surprisingly enough, most of Gwen’s scenes. I almost couldn’t believe how mature, strong and competent she acted after she got back to Camelot. My favorite scene with her was when Eira was captured. ‘You didn’t betray the King; you can go to your death safe in that knowledge.’ This is what she should have been like after being crowned Queen, and not a pathetic creature whose sole purpose was to stroke Arthur’s ego every now and then. The scene in which Gaius confirms to her that Merlin is a sorcerer was also very sweet.

All in all, it was a fantastic end to the show. I’m not sure how I feel about the final scene, but I think I liked it. As I had anticipated, I’m already nostalgic and missing the show. I’m so not good with endings.

S0 now what? How do I fill this newly formed hole inside me? By watching Camelot! 😀 It only has 10 episodes, but my hope is that it will help make the transition to a Merlin-less* life easier.

Well, I have to give the penultimate episode of Merlin mixed reviews; I mostly enjoyed it and thought it was one of the best of the season… but is that saying much at all?

The episode started with an awesome scene in which Morgana demonstrated her latest (and last) plan of attack on a poor sorcerer – she used a magic leech to suck out his magic and intended to do the same to Merlin. It was a great opening and Katie McGrath did a really awesome job – as usual. I kind of wish we’d been told of this leech during one of Morgana’s earlier attempts to find out who Emrys is.

A masked guy planted the magic leech’s box in Merlin’s room and after he got home from the pub, where he used his magic to beat Arthur at backgammon, he was taken by surprise by the creature and lost his magic. That’s all fine and dandy, but can we go back to him using it to beat Arthur at a game? That’s something the immature Merlin from the first or second season would do… where’s all the wisdom he’s supposedly gained since? Anyway, because Merlin didn’t die after the leech’s kiss, Gaius assumed Morgana’s plan failed, even though he knew nothing about the creature. That’s not like him at all.

Morgana’s men then proceeded to attack a village, defeat what guards and Knights there were and take over. Gwaine fell for this hot blonde and took her back to Camelot, where after a pointless, boring Council, Arthur decided to strike back and end the war with Morgana once and for all. Meanwhile, Morgana forged a blade using her dragon’s fire breath and gave it to Mordred. I’m glad they writers were putting some thought into this last plan of hers; it almost made up for the countless times she’s been made to look like a fool.

Speaking of Mordred, though, I feel like his entire arch was handled the wrong way. Throughout the season, he’s been portrayed as this honest, loyal friend of Arthur that Merlin didn’t trust on the basis of some prophecy. In the end, he turned to the dark side not because he always intended to, but because Merlin hated him and wanted him gone. That just feels cheap and I wish they came up with better reasons for his actions.

Back to the episode. Since Arthur and his army will meet Morgana at Camlann (or something), which is the place where he’s supposed to die at the hand of Mordred, Merlin made up some excuse not to go with him and traveled to the Crystal Cave to see if he can get his powers back. The scene in which he breaks the news to Arthur was brilliant and I loved it. Now that it’s the end of the series, the writers have stopped messing around with their relationship and started moving it along, which is great. I loved everything from how Arthur took it and the effects it had on him throughout the rest of the episode. This was one of the highlights of the episode.

After reaching the Crystal Cave, Merlin encountered a surprise: Morgana. Turns out the hot blonde worked for Morgana all along and had told her about the Cave. So instead of killing Merlin, she just trapped him in the one place where he could regain his powers… and only after being mildly injured by Merlin, who’s barely yielded a sword before. *Sigh.* Really? Why do the writers insist on making her so incompetent and stupid?

Merlin had a breakdown (great scene) and passed out. When he woke up, guess whose ghost was there to help him out? His father’s! The father who had only appeared in one other episode, the father Merlin’s never really known, yet has always looked up to like no other. I’m sorry, but what about Lancelot, who died for Merlin and had a much bigger part in the story? What about the girl Merlin fell in love with in season two? Gwen’s brother? The dragon? I know it’s not dead, but it would still have been a better choice.

But no, we got his father instead. This is the first thing he told Merlin:

“Dead or alive, real or imagined, past or present… these things are of no consequence. All that matters is you heed the words of your father, who loves you.”

WHO talks like that? Then he went on about how Merlin is magic and the world is magic and Merlin is the world… I’m so frustrated because this scene could have been a great one, and instead we got a cringe-worthy monologue from a character nobody cares about.

Meanwhile, Gwen gave Arthur another one of her dramatic speeches about how he’s great. She really has been insufferable since she’s become Queen. Morgana launched her attack, but Merlin was able to warn Arthur about it. The scene in which he delivered that speech was another strong one. Grim, spooky, haunting music, an uplifting speech… I loved it. Then the battle commenced and we got some awesome part-slow-mo shots of Arthur fighting. They’ve used this technique before, but they really nailed it this time!

The episode ended with Mordred trying to find and kill Arthur and Merlin emerging from the cave as the old, red robed sorcerer. Why the old sorcerer? It’s the end of the series and the main character can’t reach his full power unless he turns into a grandpa?

For better or for worse, we only have one more episode until Merlin ends and I’m already nostalgic. Despite these last two seasons, I’ll still miss the story and the characters. Here’s hoping the final episode knocks it out of the park!

Like this:

Sanctuary is a Canadian SF/Fantasy TV Show that I’m currently obsessed with. Obsessed as in watching-episodes-until-4-AM obsessed. But ever since I woke up this morning I’ve been wondering what to do with my life, now that I’ve finished the available four seasons in a little over a week. I remembered I have this thing called a blog and I’ve written in there I’m going to start posting more regularly again. In retrospect, I don’t know what came over me then, but I do have this huge emptiness to fill, so I might as well let you in on this amazing show.

Helen Magnus, portrayed by Amanda Tapping

The show centers on the head of The Sanctuary Network, 157 years old Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping), and her team of experts as they deal with all kinds of abnormals (powerful creatures, for the most part the result of natural mutations, although some are created on purpose). The Sanctuary Network is a network of safe havens for abnormals, with Sanctuaries placed all over the world, naturally.

In addition to being the elected leader of the Network, she is also the head of the Old City Sanctuary, which is where a good part of the action takes place. In the pilot episode, Sanctuary For All, Helen recruits forensics psychiatrist Will Zimmerman to work for the Sanctuary. Reluctant at first, he eventually accepts her offer and becomes her protege. Also part of the Helen’s team are her daughter Ashley, a Sasquatch-like creature only known by the nicknames Big Guy, Biggie or Big Foot and Henry Foss – the tech guy. From the second season, the team is joined by bad-girl-gone-good Kate Freelander.

Naturally, over the course of four seasons more characters -usually interesting characters- are introduced, brought back or sent away. Midway through the first season, for example, we learn of one group of individuals called ‘The Five’, group which Helen was a part of. That group is one of my favorite things about this show, and some of its members are based on real life figures: Jack the Ripper or Nikola Tesla (his character in the show is actually one of my favorites, but that’s another post).

The episode The Five wasthe series’ turning point, at least for me. Up until then, I thought the episodes were kind of slow paced and not intriguing enough. But beginning

Old City Sanctuary

with it, the episodes got more suspenseful, funnier, the characters’ story lines started getting interesting… Things started to shake up quickly and they only continued to do that; each season is unique, with at least one big change happening. It helps keep the show fresh, while still staying true to its theme and concept. For comic relief, there are a lot of references to other books (even a Harry Potter one!!!!), movies, music – you name it.

What I love about the show is how reasonable and realistic the solutions to problems are. Almost every episode, a seemingly impossible situation is introduced and by the end of the episode (or the story arc), we are presented an elegant solution that actually makes sense. Granted, I didn’t watch many SF shows before, but I was expecting a lot of deus ex machina type of endings, characters dying and then being brought back to life constantly, and so on. But that is not the case at all. Another thing you can count on are the special effects – always stunning. The show is being filmed mostly on green screen, which makes it either one of or the most environmental friendly shows out there.

I’m going to end this post here, cause I’m trying to keep this one as spoiler-free as possible. A follow up discussing my favorite characters should be up soon, and then I’m going to list my favorite and least favorite episodes. All of them. From all seasons. It will be fun.

Anyway, if you’re a SF or Fantasy fan, I say definitely give this show a shot. You most likely won’t regret it.